Bayou Body Count: A Stench At The Airport

George Bush Intercontinental Airport may not be on the same level as mythic Mafioso burial grounds such as JFK in New York or the airport in Newark, N.J., but it still finds a stiff every once in a while.

Last week, airport police got a call about a terrible stench coming from the parking lot of the D terminal. And as we have learned here at Bayou Body Count, a foul stench coming from a parking lot can only mean one thing: a body.

Sure enough, police tracked the smell down to a Ford Focus parked on level 5, section F-6, where they discovered the body of a 41-year-old woman in the back seat. The body, which was decomposing, has not yet been identified, police say. The car had been parked there since October 7.

Police are also counting on an autopsy to ID a man and a woman found dead on Saturday at 6301 West Bellfort. Police say that someone who lived at the apartment complex there came home after being away for a few days to the awful smell of death. He called police, who discovered the two bodies in a bedroom, police say.

Investigators say that they could not immediately figure out how the man and woman died and that they have no real leads.

The police details read like a scene from a made-for-Texas action movie.

Just after High Noon on Monday, a man enters a video game room at 13980 Westheimer. He takes out a gun and ushers an unsuspecting employee (our hero) into a back room and demands fistfuls of money. The employee then forks over some cash and the robber makes a run for it. But before he can escape, the worker emerges from the back room with a gun and starts firing, striking both the robber dead and a victory for outlaw justice.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office will present the case to a grand jury to decide if charges should be filed against the shooter.

Another case the DA is involved with concerns an officer-involved shooting on Saturday evening. According to police, Officer J.M. Crawford, an 11-year veteran of the force, was watching homes along the 5900 block of Allday looking for a specific band of robbers when he saw a white Cadillac that matched the description of the thieves that he was after.

Crawford tried to pull the Caddie over, police say, when the suspected robbers' sped away, leading Crawford on a short chase. But it ended abruptly when the driver of the car stopped, grabbed a gun and tried to flee on foot.

But he didn't make far. Police say the man turned and pointed his gun at the officer, so Crawford fired, fatally wounding the man. As is customary in police shootings, HPD' Internal Affairs Division and the DA's office will investigate the case.

Gimme your money or you're dead.

That seemed to be the sentiment early Saturday morning when two men forced their way into an apartment at 7575 Office City, demanding to speak to a 49-year-old man. The two attackers accused the man of owing them money, police say, so they put the other people inside the home in a bedroom while they beat the man and eventually shot him. The men then ran away.

Someone shot grandma.

A 79-year old woman was returning home to the Landmark Apartment Complex at 2931 Barker Cypress Rd. on Saturday afternoon and was unloading her groceries in the parking lot when suddenly an unknown man walked up to her and shot her in the neck, police say. Investigators do not know a motive.

Noe Martinez, 33, was found lying in the entrance to the Riverstone Apartments at 9303 Woodfair early Sunday morning. Police say three people mugged Martinez and beat him in the head. Martinez later died at Ben Taub General Hospital.

On Thursday night, a man was walking along the 13500 block of Regg when someone shot him in the face, police say. The shooter then ran away. Police say they have no suspects or witnesses.

Police began investigating the death of a 57-year-old woman on Tuesday. Her live-in boyfriend found her body in the bedroom of their home at 2016 Creston, police say. The investigation is pending the results of an autopsy, police say.